Society

10 arrested in tainted pork scandal in E China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-16 00:51

NANJING - Authorities in east China's Jiangsu Province said Wednesday that they have arrested ten people, including four government staff and six butchers, in a case involving pork tainted with a toxic chemical.

The government staff, including three officials, were from the trade bureau, health inspection station and veterinary station of Jianye District in the provincial capital city of Nanjing, said a spokesman with the city's procuratorate.

They were accused of neglect of duty, according to the spokesman.

Six butchers, all from the Xingwang Slaughterhouse, were accused of selling poisonous food as they knew the pigs had been fed with the chemical and sold the pork.

Police investigation in March showed that over 100 pigs at the slaughterhouse test positive for clenbuterol, a banned chemical used to make animals develop more muscle and less fat.